With the Buffalo Bills showcasing poor tackling and technique on opposing running backs in 2025, new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard has made it a priority this week in practice to wrap up better and complete the tackle.
He wants to see how it shapes up against the Carolina Panthers in Saturday's preseason game. Leonhard wants to focus on fundamentals, especially in the preseason, when the defensive scheme will be very vanilla.
Leonhard believes the defense will be fundamentally sound as practices continue and the players get more comfortable with each other. Right now, though, it's about the upcoming preseason game the Bills will face against the Carolina Panthers this Saturday.
How Leonhard intends to motivate his players
With experience as a player himself in this type of aggressive scheme, Leonhard will want to convey that message to his players to motivate and help them play to their ability in this defense. Since the tackling rules differ between practice and actual game settings, Leonhard puts his players through individual tackling drills to prepare them to face opponents in a different uniform.
On actual game days, Leonhard will test that mindset as he calls the defensive plays for the first time in a real game. This is where he will evaluate how the players are performing, especially in tackling and pursuit of the ball.
This week in practice, Leonhard had the team focus on tackling and finishing up on the ball carrier. He wants to make sure his players are ready and prepared for their first preseason game. Let's take a look at how they improved in their practices.
Defense improving each day
In the Bills' first preseason game this Saturday, Leonhard wants his players to pursue the ball carrier aggressively and focus solely on making tackles, as per Andy Young of Spectrum News 1, he won't be showing off his aggressive scheme until Week 1 of the regular season against the Houston Texans.
"That was an achilles heel here last year." Young stated.
With everything new happening in Orchard Park this year, the Bills are going back to a defense that truly represents players who fit the grit and toughness of the city of Buffalo, with a familiar face calling everything. The preseason is drawing near, and Bills Mafia is raring to go and see how the 2026 Buffalo Bills defense fares in stopping the run, inspiring pride in its flexibility.
Leonhard can speak to reporters all day long about how confident he is in this Bills defense. But it's all talk and coaches' talk until they put it all out on the field this Saturday in Week 1 of the preseason against the Carolina Panthers.
To rephrase the Bills' new motto under head coach Joe Brady, they need to prove it on the field and "put the ball down" to go play in a football game.
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